Adventures in Baby Sitting
by LuckyLadybug
Summary: Seto Kaiba has gotten stuck babysitting his maid's nieces and nephews! Will the house be left standing by the time they leave?


Yu-Gi-Oh!  
Adventures in Baby-Sitting  
By Lucky_Ladybug  
  
  
Notes: The characters aren't mine, except for the maid Velma and the six kids ^_~ The story's plot is mine too, tho some of the ideas belong to various friends who helped me out ^_^ Thanx, y'all! ^^  
  
  
Seto Kaiba sighed as he shut the company report he had been going over. It hadn't been easy to get things at KaibaCorp back to normal after a conniving snake had embezzled lots of money from the company's accounts and then had tried to escape.   
  
He didn't like to remember what had happened after that. He had managed to foil the creep's escape, but the guy had nearly killed him in the process. He had been dangerously close to the threshold between this life and the next for several days, and now that he was finally recovered and the jerk responsible was behind bars, Seto just wanted to relax for a while.  
  
"Mr. Kaiba?"  
  
Seto looked up at the sound of the maid Velma's voice. "Yes?" he asked. "What is it?"  
  
"I really hate to bother you, Mr. Kaiba, sir," Velma said nervously, twisting her dust mop in her hands, "but . . . well . . ."  
  
Seto raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Um . . . there's a bunch of my nieces and nephews comin' over," Velma said finally.  
  
"Yes, I remember," Seto replied, wondering what the point was and getting the feeling that he wouldn't like it, whatever it was.  
  
He was right. "Well, they're kinda rambunctious," Velma said hesitantly.  
  
Seto groaned inwardly. That's all I need, he thought.  
  
Before either of them could say any more, the doorbell rang.  
  
"Oh, that'll be them now," Velma announced. "Excuse me, Mr. Kaiba!" She hurried off.  
  
Seto sighed to himself. He had the feeling that this was going to be one wild ride.  
  
Before long, Velma returned with six kids in tow, five of whom were screaming and yelling. "Mr. Kaiba?" Velma smiled nervously. "I'd like you to meet Brandon, Gracie, Tom, Cynthia, Crystal, and . . ." She looked around and finally noticed the one quiet child, who looked up at Seto shyly. "This is Heather," Velma finished. "Kids, this is my boss," she introduced.  
  
"Hello," all the kids said in unison, except for Heather, who continued to stand to the side bashfully.  
  
Seto nodded in reply and glanced at Heather.  
  
"Do you have any glue remover?" Tom blurted, holding up Gracie's hands, which were stuck together. "She was making a collage and got carried away."  
  
"I'm stuck," Gracie announced.  
  
Seto sighed. "The best thing to do would be to soak her hands in a pail of water."  
  
"My frog is stuck in this jar!" Brandon held up a glass container. A small creature croaked noisily at the bottom. The main thing Seto noticed, however, was that Brandon's hand was firmly encased in the jar as well.  
  
"It looks to me like you have more stuck in that jar than just your frog," Seto remarked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"I'll take him to the kitchen and find some butter, Mr. Kaiba," Velma volunteered. She looked around apologetically, her eyes showing how reluctant she was to leave the other kids around to bother her boss.  
  
"It's fine. Go get him unstuck. I'll watch the others," Seto replied, waving a hand dismissively.  
  
"Well, alright, Mr. Kaiba, if you're sure . . ." Velma said slowly.  
  
Seto nodded, and Velma hurried out of the room with Brandon and his frog. Instantly, the other kids began exploring Seto's home office.  
  
"Hey, what does this do?" Cynthia picked up the stapler.  
  
"Be careful with that!" Seto jumped to grab it away. "It isn't a toy!"  
  
Cynthia had already stapled the curtain to the wall. "Ooops," she said softly.  
  
"See what I mean? It's dangerous! Give it to me!" Seto snatched it away.  
  
"Hey, you've got mail!" Crystal announced, pointing to the laptop computer.  
  
Seto barely glanced at it. "I'll read it later." He turned his attention to Gracie, whose hands were still stuck together. "Alright, let's see what we can do about you." He took the little girl up in his arms and turned to get some water from the water cooler in the corner of the room.  
  
"Hey!" Cynthia started to wail suddenly.  
  
"What happened?" Seto whirled around, splashing some of the water onto the floor.  
  
"Tom found another stapler and stapled Cynthia's braids together!" Crystal yelled.  
  
"What?!" Seto gasped. He laid the cup of water on the desk, instructing Gracie to soak her hands in it, and then turned to address the latest problem. "Alright, that's enough!" He grabbed the offensive office equipment away from Tom and held it out of his reach. "I told you not to play with this!"  
  
"Hey, we're just kids!" Tom said innocently.  
  
Seto growled inwardly. "Time out for you," he ordered, pointing to the corner. "And stay right there where I can see you," he added, seeing Tom's mischievous grin.  
  
The young businessman knelt down next to Cynthia. "Hold still," he told her gently. "I'll have this mess undone in a minute."  
  
It proved harder than he thought. Tom hadn't used just one or two staples; he had used every staple in the small machine, all up and down the braids!  
  
"Will I havta stay like this forever?!" Cynthia quavered.  
  
"Of course not," Seto replied, reaching for a staple remover. He soon discovered that removing staples from French braids was a long, tedious process, and he was only halfway done when he was suddenly pelted with something fluffy and soft. "What in the . . ." He whirled around and found himself looking at a pillow on the floor. Crystal, standing nearby, giggled.  
  
"Did you throw that?" Seto demanded.  
  
"Uh uh," Crystal said, shaking her head emphatically. "Tom did!"  
  
"Pillow fight!" Tom screamed, standing atop Seto's desk.  
  
"I told you to stay in the corner!" Seto scolded angrily.  
  
Tom grinned mischievously. "Hey, I'm just a kid. I'm supposed to disobey orders!"  
  
At that moment, Gracie, whose hands were finally free, threw a pillow across the room, hitting Tom. Before Seto quite knew what was happening, he was in the middle of an out-of-control pillow fight. Pictures and vases crashed to the floor, but luckily, didn't break. "Stop!!" Seto yelled. "Stop it!!" A pillow caught him hard in the chest and his eyes narrowed angrily.  
  
"What about my hair?" Cynthia wailed.  
  
"Just a minute," Seto replied, catching the next pillow before it could reach its intended target. "I do not allow pillow fighting in my house. Tom, I told you to stay in the corner and you disobeyed me. You are in trouble. And as for you, Crystal and Gracie . . ."  
  
"I was aiming at Tom," Gracie said, wide-eyed. "I was mad at him 'cause he was being mean again!" She took a good look at Seto and started to giggle. Soon all five kids—even quiet Heather—were laughing uncontrollably.  
  
Seto raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?" he demanded.  
  
"You! Look at you!" Crystal choked out between fits of laughter.  
  
"What the . . ." Seto turned to glance in a mirror on the wall and his mouth dropped open. He was covered in white feathers from the pillows! Growling angrily to himself, he brushed the down off of his clothes and out of his hair and turned back to the kids. "As I was saying," he said stiffly, "Gracie, two wrongs don't make a right. And Crystal . . ." He was interrupted again by something small and noisy bouncing off his head. "Huh?"  
  
"It's Brandon's frog!" Gracie yelled.  
  
"Mr. Kaiba! Mr. Kaiba!" Velma screamed, running into the room. She stopped short upon seeing feathers everywhere.  
  
"What is it now?" Seto asked.  
  
"Have you seen . . ." Velma stopped, staring at the frog, which was leaping out the window. ". . . Brandon's frog?" she finished lamely.  
  
"He's goin' on the roof!" Crystal exclaimed, yelling out the window.  
  
"What are you doing?" Seto demanded.  
  
"Calling to Brandon! He's at the next window!" Crystal replied.  
  
"What?!" Seto rushed to look out, a sinking suspicion in his mind, which was confirmed when he saw Brandon climbing out the window and up onto the roof above him. "Brandon!! Come down from there!" Seto yelled.  
  
"I havta get my frog," Brandon replied, and disappeared from sight up on the roof.  
  
Seto growled inwardly. "I'll have to go bring him down," he said to Velma. "Tom stapled Cynthia's hair together. Here's the staple remover. I was halfway done when three of the kids started a pillow fight." He handed her the staple remover and dashed out the door.  
****  
"Brandon! Where did you go?" Seto yelled, trying to keep his balance on the roof.  
  
"Um, I'm over here," was the quavering reply.  
  
Seto raised an eyebrow at the tone of Brandon's voice. "What are you doing?" he demanded, making his way over a gable.  
  
"Nothing," Brandon said after a pause. Seto knew that "nothing" was usually the worst kind of "something," but he was still taken aback when he discovered Brandon kneeling on the roof, his hand stuck in the rain gutter.  
  
"What the . . . how did this happen?!" Seto wanted to know.  
  
"I was reaching for my frog and I kinda slipped," Brandon said sheepishly.  
  
Seto groaned inwardly. "Hang on a minute and I'll have you free," he said. "But then you're in serious trouble!" he added angrily.  
  
"I guess it was kinda dumb to come up here, huh?" Brandon said, looking around at how high up they were.  
  
"That's an understatement," Seto growled, kneeling on the roof next to the freckle-faced boy and trying in vain to pull his hand free.  
  
Suddenly he was startled by a familiar voice calling up from the ground. "Hey, Kaiba!"  
  
The young businessman looked over the edge of the roof. "Wheeler?! What are you doing on my property?!"  
  
Joey grinned obnoxiously. From his position on the lawn, he couldn't see Brandon, only Seto. "I was just walkin' by and I couldn't help but notice that you were on the roof. What's up, Kaiba? Besides you, of course." He smiled at his own joke. "Did you decide you could install the satellite dish better by yourself instead of lettin' the professionals handle it?"  
  
"Wheeler, I don't have time for jokes!" Seto snapped. "Can't you see I'm busy?" He wrestled with the rain gutter, trying to take it apart, and nearly fell off the roof.  
  
"Whoa, man, you nearly got creamed there," Joey observed.  
  
Seto was getting frustrated. "Do you have to stand there telling me what I already know?!"  
  
Joey shook his head in amusement. "Man, you're in your usual good mood, I see."  
  
"Wheeler, either be quiet or go away," Seto growled.  
  
"Ow, ow, ow!!" Brandon screamed.  
  
Joey raised an eyebrow. "Kaiba, what're you doin' up there? That voice sounded younger than yours!"  
  
"It wasn't him! It was me!" Brandon yelled down at him. "He's trying to get my hand outta the rain gutter!!!"  
  
Joey walked over around to the side of the house for a better look. "I didn't know you were into the baby-sittin' business now, Kaiba," he remarked with a grin.  
  
Seto didn't reply. Instead he said, "While you're down there, Wheeler, make yourself useful and throw me those pliers." He pointed to a pair sitting on a nearby bench.  
  
Joey shrugged. "Okay. Catch!"  
  
Seto reached over the edge of the roof and caught the pliers as Joey tossed them up.  
  
"What're you gonna do with those??!" Brandon asked, his eyes wide.  
  
"Hold still, kid, this'll just take a minute," Seto replied, fixing the pliers firmly on the rain gutter and pulling at it.  
  
"Whoa, man, are you tryin' to pull the rain gutter apart?" Joey asked, his eyes wide.  
  
"What do you think?" Seto growled in reply.  
  
Before long, Seto had finally managed to do exactly that, and Brandon was able to pull his hand free at last. "Wow, thanks, Mr. Kaiba," he beamed.  
  
Seto looked at Brandon's wrist, which was scratched and bleeding. "Come on," he ordered. "We're going back in the house to get that cleaned up before it gets infected."  
  
"Okay," Brandon agreed, and he followed Seto down the ladder.  
  
"Man, that was some adventure," Joey grinned, just as something bounced off his head. "Eh? What *was* that?!"  
  
Seto smirked crookedly. "Brandon's frog," he informed the Brooklyn-born boy.  
  
"Joey! What are you doing?"  
  
Both boys turned to look. Yugi, Tea, Tristan, and Bakura were standing near the gate, looking into the yard, their expressions showing complete confusion.  
  
"Eh, nothin'," Joey grinned. "Just teasin' Kaiba. He's taken up baby-sittin' as a side job."  
  
"Really, Kaiba?" Yugi asked. That was the last thing any of them would've thought Seto Kaiba would be doing.  
  
"No," Seto said flatly. "This is my maid's nephew. Now if you'll excuse us . . ." He took Brandon's hand and led him back inside, looking seriously miffed.  
  
"What *was* going on, Joey?" Tea asked curiously.  
  
Joey shrugged. "The kid got his hand stuck in the rain gutter and Kaiba had to take the thing apart to get him loose," he said as they walked on down the street.  
****  
When Seto got back inside and had Brandon's wrist cleaned and bandaged, Velma informed him of a new problem.  
  
"You know that fella you've been trying to close that business deal with, Mr. Kaiba?" Velma said.  
  
"Yes. What about him?" Seto asked.  
  
"Well, he just called and said he hadn't forgotten about your meeting tonight," Velma told him. "He's waiting in your office, Mr. Kaiba."  
  
Seto's eyes went wide. "What??!" He sighed. "Tell him I'll be in shortly," he said, surveying his frazzled appearance in the mirror.  
  
When he went upstairs, however, he thought he heard soft crying. "What the . . . where's that coming from?" he wondered.  
  
He soon traced the sound to a hall table and discovered Heather crying under it. "Heather? What's wrong?" he asked, kneeling down next to her.  
  
"The other kids won't play with me," Heather sobbed. "They said I was a sissy 'cause I wouldn't tightrope walk across the balcony railing!"  
  
"What?!" Seto's eyes narrowed. "Were the other kids doing that?" he asked.  
  
"Tom did," Heather replied, "and even Crystal, but then we heard the butler coming and Tom made them all run away. I was watching from up here 'cause they wouldn't let me play with them."  
  
Seto sighed. "They shouldn't have tried to make you walk on the balcony railing," he told her. "You were smart not to do that, Heather." He paused. "Some things are just stupid, and doing dangerous stunts just to please people is one of those things."  
  
Heather brightened. "So I'm not a sissy?" she asked.  
  
"No, Heather, you're not a sissy," Seto said.  
  
The little girl leaped into Seto's arms, surprising him. "I like you!" she told him. "You're nice!"  
  
Seto was startled, but then returned Heather's embrace with a smile. "Thank you, Heather," he said softly. "I like you, too."  
  
Five minutes later Seto walked into his office carrying Heather, who hadn't wanted to leave him. He cringed when he saw all the feathers from the kids' pillow fight scattered everywhere. "Mr. Winters?" he said to the man, who was looking at a picture of Mokuba on Seto's desk.  
  
"That is correct, young man," Mr. Winters confirmed. "And you are Seto Kaiba, I presume?"  
  
"Yes, I am," the boy replied with a nod. "I apologize for the delay, but . . ."  
  
Mr. Winters held up a hand to silence him. "Say no more. Your maid told me how you've been helping her take care of her nieces and nephews today." He smiled. "I like that."  
  
"And he's really nice," Heather beamed.  
  
Mr. Winters nodded. "I like finding businessmen who appreciate children, being a family man myself. I think I will enjoy doing business with you, Seto Kaiba."  
  
"Thank you, sir," Seto said, relieved that the man wasn't upset at being left waiting all this time. "I will enjoy doing business with you, as well."  
****  
Almost as soon as Mr. Winters had left, Seto became aware that things were much too quiet. "I wonder what kind of mischief your brothers and sisters are getting into," he said to Heather.  
  
She shrugged. "Probably somethin' big."  
  
At that moment, a loud crash came from the general direction of the kitchen and Seto winced. He dashed out of his office and down the hall, Heather following closely. As they got closer to the kitchen, Seto heard Crystal say tauntingly, "Oooh, Tom, you're in trouble now!"  
  
"What's going on in here?!" Seto demanded, and then his eyes went wide. Tom was doing a twisty dance in an entire carton's worth of broken eggs while Brandon and Crystal cheered him on. Cynthia and Gracie, meanwhile, were having a very messy tea party at the counter, trying to ignore Tom's performance . . . at least until a huge piece of egg splashed right in the middle of their makeshift tea set.  
  
"Ewww!!" Gracie yelled, jumping back.  
  
"That's gross, Tom! Look what you did!" Cynthia added indignantly.  
  
"Aww, I didn't do anything to your dumb old tea party!" Tom replied.  
  
Seto clapped a hand to his forehead, then stormed into the room. "Alright, party's over," he said firmly. "Tom, take your shoes off and leave them on your . . . creative dance floor," he ordered.  
  
"You mean I get to run around without shoes?" Tom exclaimed. "Cool!" He jumped out of his shoes and tried to run out of the kitchen, but Seto blocked his path.  
  
"You've been causing a lot of trouble today," the teenager scolded him.  
  
"Hey, I'm a curious, adventurous boy!" Tom grinned mischievously.  
  
"I'm going to have to tell your mother what you've been doing," Seto told him.  
  
"Go ahead," Tom shrugged, and darted between Seto's legs.  
  
"It doesn't matter how much she punishes him," Heather, who had stayed with Seto through the whole experience, spoke up. "He just causes trouble all the more!"  
  
Seto sighed. Tom was probably causing trouble just to get attention, he decided.  
  
"Anna," he called to the stern-faced maid, "the kids made a mess in here!"  
  
"I'll come get it cleaned up, Mr. Kaiba," Anna replied, heaving a big sigh. "I've just come from cleaning up Brandon's latest mess."  
  
Seto raised an eyebrow. "Which was . . .?"  
  
"He chased his frog into the bathroom and knocked over five bottles of liquid soap and eight tubes of toothpaste!" Anna grumped. "And of course, the contents went all over everything."  
  
Seto shook his head and sighed. This was turning out to be one disaster after another. He decided he'd better go find Tom before he caused more trouble. With Heather in tow, he started down the hall that Tom had ran down moments earlier, checking every room.  
  
Suddenly a white creature jumped out at them with a loud "Boo!"  
  
Heather got scared and flung her arms around Seto, who simply raised an eyebrow at the little "ghost." "I know it's you, Tom," he said, "so you might as well give up this childish attempt to scare . . . me," he said after a moment's hesitation, seeing that Heather already was scared. He put his arm around the little girl comfortingly.  
  
A resigned sigh came from under the sheet. "Ah, shucks, you're no fun!" Tom remarked, pulling his costume off. "I scared my last baby-sitter right out of her shoes!"  
  
"It's not a nice thing to do, Tom," Heather said angrily, looking up.  
  
"You will learn that I don't scare easily," Seto told the small boy.  
  
"So I guess you're gonna punish me, huh?" Tom said in a nonchalant voice, "For trying to?"  
  
Seto gave him a long look. He had the feeling that Tom actually didn't mind being punished. If all the kid wanted was for others to notice him, making mischief was certainly a good way to accomplish that.  
  
"No," Seto said finally, "I'm not going to punish you. I want you to help me clean up the mess you made when you started that pillow fight."  
  
Tom blinked in surprise. "Okay," he agreed.  
****  
Forty-five minutes later, Tom triumphantly pulled a feather out of a picture frame hanging on the wall and grinned. "Last one!" he proclaimed.  
  
Seto nodded slowly and closed the pillowcase, which was now stuffed to the brim with feathers. He sat down at his desk and motioned for Tom to come sit by him. "I'm curious, Tom," he said. "What are things like at your house?"  
  
Tom shrugged. "Mom's usually gone away on business trips and stuff, so us kids can get away with almost anything!"  
  
Seto had suspected as much. "Why do you like to cause so much trouble?" he asked. He thought he knew why, but he wanted to give Tom a chance to answer himself.  
  
"Well, 'cause it's fun, and cool, and . . . and . . ." Tom trailed off.  
  
"Because you're hoping to get your mother's attention?" Seto prompted.  
  
"Well . . . yeah, kinda," Tom admitted. "I mean, she's gone so much and everything . . . And when she's home, she's just so busy and everything that she never has time for any of us!"   
  
Seto sighed. "I'm sure the last thing she wants to deal with after a long business trip is you creating chaos."  
  
"Yeah, but she doesn't even notice me unless I'm doing something bad!" Tom protested.  
  
"There's a better way to get her attention," Seto told him. "Instead of causing problems, why don't you try doing something nice for her?"  
  
Tom paused, considering this. "Me, do something nice?" He shrugged. "Welll . . . maybe I'll try it," he said finally. He gave Seto a sidelong glance. "Maybe you're not so bad after all . . . You don't scare easily, but you're a lot smarter than the usual baby-sitters we get stuck with," he said, grinning lopsidedly.  
  
Before Seto could reply, a loud screeching sound came from downstairs.  
  
"Whoa!" Tom exclaimed. "What was that??!"  
  
"My computer," Seto replied with a sigh as he got up and headed for the stairs. "Someone's obviously trying to get into it, but it's only programmed to open for me."  
  
"Wow! That is so radically cool!" Tom burst out.  
****  
When Seto arrived down in his computer room, he found Brandon and Gracie arguing with the computer.  
  
"Aw, c'mon, let us in!" Brandon begged.  
  
"I'm sorry," the computer replied. "I am only programmed to obey Seto Kaiba!"  
  
"But we wanna play your games!" Gracie piped up.  
  
"If it's computer games you want, I'm afraid you're out of luck," Seto said wryly, stepping into view. "There are no games on this computer."  
  
"You don't have any computer games?" Gracie exclaimed, her eyes wide.  
  
"Boring!!" Brandon said loudly.  
  
The computer chuckled. "What kind of mess have you gotten into now?" she asked Seto.  
  
"It's too long a story for right now," Seto replied.  
  
"You always say that!" the computer complained.  
  
"I'll tell you about it later," Seto promised, leading the kids back upstairs into the drawing room.  
  
Something wet splashed on Seto's hand. "What the . . ." He looked up at the ceiling just in time to get hit with a steady stream of water.  
  
"Oh, Mr. Kaiba, sir, I'm so sorry!" Velma exclaimed, dashing into the room. "Crystal was tryin' to be helpful by takin' a bath all by herself after she fell in a big bag of flour, but she flooded the tub!"  
  
Seto groaned inwardly. Would he never have a moment's peace?  
****  
Several long hours later, the kids' mother finally arrived to take them home, but not before Brandon's frog had gotten lost in the ventilator system and Seto had had to crawl in after it, and also not before Cynthia and Crystal had gotten into the pinecones on the trees outside and had found great pleasure in seeing how many they could successfully throw through the house's open windows.  
  
As the kids now turned to leave, Heather turned back and threw her arms around Seto, hugging him tightly. "Thank you for taking care of us!" she beamed. "You're really nice!"  
  
"She really likes you, Mr. Kaiba," Velma told him. "She's usually so quiet and shy with everyone, even me sometimes!"  
  
Seto smiled at Heather when she looked up at him. "Will I get to see you again?" the little girl asked.  
  
"I'm sure you will," Seto replied. He couldn't help liking the sweet, innocent girl.  
  
As the kids trooped outside, Seto heard Tom say to his mother, "Hey, Mom, let me help you with your briefcase!"  
  
"You said somethin' to him that just might change him for the better, Mr. Kaiba!" Velma exclaimed.  
  
Seto didn't answer as he watched the family drive away in their car, but he found himself feeling hopeful that Tom really was turning over a new leaf.  
****  
With a sigh of relief, Seto collapsed on the couch and glanced around the room. There were still traces of feathers and pinecones scattered around, and the floor was still somewhat damp from the overflowing tub upstairs. He didn't know how long the kids had been there, but it had certainly been long enough to make a huge mess.  
  
He hadn't realized how tired he actually was from the experience until he found himself rousing up on the couch a couple of hours later as the door opened and Mokuba, who had been at rehearsals for the school play, bounded in. "Hi, big brother!" he chirped.  
  
Seto smiled as he stood up and went to hug the little boy. "Hey, Mokuba," he said. "How was your day?"  
  
"It was wild," Mokuba told him. "The backdrop started falling over when Billy was trying to give his speech to the townspeople, and then Ricky tried to eat a piece of wax fruit, and then the grape props fell down in the prompter's box and we all had to go down and fish them out!"  
  
"That sounds like some experience," Seto commented. "Did you get any rehearsing done at all?"  
  
"A little," Mokuba replied. "How was your day, big brother?" His gazed drifted over the room. "Hey, how come there's pinecones in here?" he asked, his eyes widening.  
  
Seto chuckled. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you, Mokuba," he said, ruffling his brother's hair. 


End file.
